Comments on: Firefox 3.5: Excellent for fans, but competition getting tougher

New release brings the second-most popular browser up to speed with current browsing technology and trends, and perhaps nudges it ahead of the competition.

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by kingmarku July 1, 2009 10:21 AM PDT

I loaded ff3.5 and it added a whole blank toolbar row except for the word "go" with a couple!! after it. It doesn't do anything except take up real estate; and, I can't figure out how to get rid of it. I went back to 3.11; and the added blank bar persisted. I DON"T LIKE HAVING MY DISPLAY REAL ESTATE WASTED or HIJACKED!!! anyone know what's up with this. When I look at the screenshot on this website's review, there is no extra bar. It does not show up as a toolbar...... I want to get rid of it or will look for a different browser.

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by sellis16 July 2, 2009 1:45 AM PDT: I too was frustrated by this. But I took a breath and with a short, smart search on web I figured it out.

Tools/Options/Tabs : deselect the "Always show tab bar."

Relax, pal. Maybe lay off the beer.; Like this

by okkh July 1, 2009 10:44 AM PDT

FF3.5 has bugs with Yahoo mail.

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by srosenblatt July 1, 2009 11:26 AM PDT: Can you be more specific?; Like this


by jpap93 July 2, 2009 5:08 AM PDT: No, it doesn't. I use it atm. But from Linux, Y-mail looks kinda bad.; Like this


by genghis-ron July 1, 2009 12:53 PM PDT: Wow - 3.5 runs at warp 9 - very impressive.; Like this Reply to this comment


by tipoo_ July 1, 2009 2:21 PM PDT: Chrome is still quite a ways ahead, speed wise, but until they have the same add-on support as Firefox, i dont see them gaining much marketshare.; Like this Reply to this comment


by MITgrad0008 July 1, 2009 2:32 PM PDT: I think reviewers who like the Amazing bar are missing a threat to the future of Firefox-- the large numbers of us who detest the Amazing bar. I and all my friends have left Firefox or refused to upgrade to ver 3. What we hoped for in 3.5 was a default location bar, with an option for those of you who have the skills to use the Amazing bar productively to turn it on. Microsoft has already begun to capitalize on the annoyance of features like the Amazing bar in its ads for bing.com which rightfully disparage "search overload".; Like this Reply to this comment


by kn2ydoug July 1, 2009 5:49 PM PDT: It is a serious error to say that Firefox is the "second" most popular browser. Popular has nothing with Explorer being USED more. Many, many people are afraid to mess with their computer and add no software whatsoever. I know this to be a fact as I work on many, many machines for others. Firefox is hands down the most popular browser being the choice of everyone using it..; Like this Reply to this comment


by kn2ydoug July 1, 2009 5:50 PM PDT: It is a serious error to say that Firefox is the "second" most popular browser. Popular has nothing with Explorer being USED more. Many, many people are afraid to mess with their computer and add no software whatsoever. I know this to be a fact as I work on many, many machines for others. Firefox is hands down the most popular browser being the choice of everyone using it..; Like this Reply to this comment


by sbruce45 July 1, 2009 6:56 PM PDT: I installed Firefox 3.5 because it says it is much faster. What is annoying is that so many of the add-ons I use do not work anymore. Hopefully the writers will update them soon. Without some of them Firefox is so much less useful.; Like this Reply to this comment

by RCHOBO July 1, 2009 7:15 PM PDT

Actually you do not need an add-on like add block to help a page load faster if you have a browser designed to make pages load fast and not designed to carry bulky add ons.

FF used to be a great browser and the fastest on the planet. I have been a FF since the early days. It has now become a resource slug that requires even more resource heavy add-ons if you want to do any quality surfing.

I dumped my add-ons and FF for Chrome. I experience a much more lightweight browsing experience. But of course a browser is only good if it meets the needs of individual user. So maybe FF is still the way to go for you.

But the current bloated FF is a far cry from the original design teams intent. I am sorry FF took that path. It had a real shot and making IE a useless browser and winning the browser war. Now it may just gain 50% market share at its peak of popularity and throw in the towel.

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by zanzzz July 1, 2009 8:23 PM PDT: Actually FF 3.5 uses less RAM than 3.0. FF had issues with memory leakage right from the start and I doubt that ancient versions will give a faster experience, it will give you an exploitable one though.; Like this


by shakethebabyass July 1, 2009 10:48 PM PDT: I'm getting a lot of "Try Again" with very popular sites such as Myspace, Youtube, CNN

I guess this is normal since it is so fresh.. right?; Like this Reply to this comment


by ajayjain789 July 1, 2009 11:24 PM PDT: I use Firefox (mainly), IE (occasionally), and Chrome (for testing and comparing). Months back, FF used to be the really best browser, but now it's no longer better than the other browsers. In the latest stable version 3.5, the changes I've noticed so far are the memory leakage fixed, rendering speed increased, and presentation of the pages (fonts, placement of elements, etc.) made better. But the biggest problem is more than fifty very useful extensions have been rendered incompatible, and so far not all of them have issued a compatibility patch.

The browser, overall, still feels sluggish and less responsive, though less so than the previous version. However, IE and Chrome are better than it already in this respect (the interface). The only reason to use FF is, then, the extensions, which invariably get broken each new update. For example, the Tab Mix Plus was so good for the tab management that no tab related feature was even expected by its users from FF itself. Now it no longer works. Sure an update is expected but look at the new tab management features introduced by FF itself. They are nowhere close to those offered by the extension.

FF needs to make innovations in the areas where it's needed. While it's arguable whether all the feature offered by the extensions should be native to the browser, no one would want a crawling browser with a single tab opened and a memory footprint of more than 300 MB! Mozilla needs to focus more on performance for the time being. And please, don't break my extensions with every little update!; Like this Reply to this comment

by Sukki007 July 2, 2009 1:16 AM PDT

"Firefox 3.5 nevertheless represents the best Firefox we've yet seen from Mozilla."

Glad you think so. My PC doesn't. I can't open it, can't remove it, can't open it in Safe Mode, can't use System Restore to get rid of the update. In short, I'm scr***d. And I don't want to risk losing everything by deleting the file completely.

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by jpap93 July 2, 2009 5:10 AM PDT: Man, don't whine about atm that you obviously did wrong. How come only yours does it? Cause you **** it.; Like this


by sellis16 July 2, 2009 2:02 AM PDT: Working great for me.

For the power users:

1) Save your bookmarks (EZ to do -- look it up, takes a few seconds. You just save the info to your desktop).

2) Delete previous FFox version using Revo uninstall -- deletes all the registry info that can cause conflict.

3) Run Ccleaner and then Glary Utilities' "1-click maintenance" to be sure. You should have these programs anyway, if you care at all.

4) Install FFox 3.5.

5) Upload your bookmarks.

Done. Gold.; Like this Reply to this comment


by rogerpack2005 July 2, 2009 8:27 AM PDT: chrome still starts far faster, though this version of FF does feel a bit more speedy. Chrome probably uses less RAM, too; Like this Reply to this comment


by TheStripedGnome July 2, 2009 12:59 PM PDT: I like Firefox. But I have an issue with the "Awesome Bar". In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing awesome about it. It is very annoying.

When Firefox 3.0 came out, there were lots of complaints regarding this issue. I remember reading both the Firefox Support and Mozillazine forums and many people complained about it.

Now, I know there are lots of people that do like it. That's fine. So a simple "Turn On/Off Awesome Bar" button or something of the sort would have been perfect. Instead, it is now even more difficult to do a workaround for this Hideous Bar.

With 3.0 you could at least use some extensions as well as set the "browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped" and you almost had a Firefox 2 feeling. It did the trick for me.

This is no longer possible with 3.5. At least, it's not as simple as it was with 3.0. I've been to Mozillazine as well as the Firefox Support Forums asking for help. But none of the suggestions seem to work.

Needless to say, I am frustrated.; Like this Reply to this comment


by juanzuluaga July 2, 2009 2:11 PM PDT: What about the "-moz" CSS rules?
It's the same dark path that took MS over a decade ago! Those ARE NOT STANDARDS.
Long Life to Google Chrome!; Like this Reply to this comment


by neel_b July 3, 2009 3:37 AM PDT: Umm ok i used to think firefox is fast when i switched from IE to ff, but now the world has changed. The faster one out there is google chrome. Google chrome is faster in everything than FF. It starts up faster, browsing is faster. The only thing it lacks is addons. I just don't understand why Mozilla are not making improvements. They are boasting that the 3.5 version is the fastest browser but actually according to me it's not! If chrome can do it why doesn't Firefox. Either mozilla shoud make bootup and browsing faster or google should include add-ons (I'll prefer the latter one :P) For now I'm not happy with ff...wat are they doing even safari browses faster!!!!! X-(; Like this Reply to this comment

by MeanTee July 3, 2009 3:44 AM PDT

Firefox is my primary browser since a long long time and I update it every time a new version is launched. I installed FF3.5...........Its RIDICULOUS. I guess Mozilla pushed out the version before it was ready to meet the month end launch date.
The so called "Awesome bar" does not work, in fact no urls show up in the address bar, none whatsoever. When I type an url, the url stays there even if i switch tabs and even after closing the tab. Huh?
Every time I start FF, I get the crash recovery box which has a brilliant message on it, "Your last CRASHED session has CRASHED again". What in the world is that supposed to mean? And every single time it shows 29 tabs crashed, which are all empty tabs.

Wow! I am very disappointed, and it won't even let me roll back to the last stable version. I hope there is a new update very very soon.

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by MeanTee July 3, 2009 3:51 AM PDT: Oh and yes, the automatic password filling does not work either. Such a pain in the b***; Like this


by stockyjoe July 3, 2009 4:17 AM PDT: I found I had problems when I updated version 3 versus re-installing fresh. When I first got 3.5 I just did an update and I noticed that firefox seemed slower which was odd. I then just completely uninstalled Firefox, downloaded the installer and installed 3.5 fresh and noticed it was much faster.

Love the fox but I'm loving Chrome for its speed. Its so fast and smooth its noticeable.; Like this


by stockyjoe July 3, 2009 4:11 AM PDT: I like firefox. No browser can beat its plugins or development plugins like firebug, but I must admit Google chrome impresses me with its speed. Its faster and smoother. If Google got smart and quit being too minimalist they could add more configuration options to Chrome and an add on api like firefox. Webkit is the bomb; Like this Reply to this comment


by Mumblesandme July 3, 2009 6:40 AM PDT: Can someone help....I downloaded Firefox last week. It is hopeless as it keeps closing before I have managed to type in a request. I have never, ever had any problem before...what can I do ??? it is all very erratic........; Like this Reply to this comment